Shingen was a JapaneseYakuza crime boss who disgraced his family name, which he claimed had a legitimate claim to the Imperial Throne of Japan, by turning his clan into a criminal empire. He was the father of Wolverine's fiancee, Mariko Yashida. He had an illegitimate son named Keniuchio Harada who was a mutant and came to be known as the Silver Samurai.[1]
To settle a personal debt occurred in his rise to power, Shingen Harada forced Mariko Yashida to marry another criminal boss who beat her nearly to death.[2] When Wolverine found out about this he confronted Shingen. Shingen then had Wolverine poisoned, temporarily greatly weakening him so that he could beat and humiliate the superhuman mutant in a duel with bokken in front of Mariko.[3]
Shingen used his expert knowledge of human anatomy to secretly attack Wolverine's nerve endings in such a way so as to make the duel life-threatening. However, as Mariko did not know this when Wolverine attempted to use his claws against Shingen to save his own life, it appeared to Mariko that Wolverine was cheating in the duel. Mariko did not know that Wolverine's body had been saturated with enough lethal poison to kill several dozen ordinary men, or that Shingen was the one who was actually cheating in the duel. This had the effect of disgracing Wolverine in front of his lover, which was the design of Shingen.[volume & issue needed]
Logan was then dumped onto the Tokyo streets and found by Yukio, Shingen's best assassin who participated in a deception with the ninja clan the Hand, to manipulate him into an assassination of a rival crime lord, using Mariko as unwitting bait for additional motivation. After his role was completed, Shingen ordered Logan killed by Yukio who ignored the order, which led to the Hand being sent to enforce his will. In the events resulting from that action, including the death of a personal friend by Yukio, Wolverine realized that she was the one who poisoned him at Shingen's residence and he was being played for a fool at apparently Shingen's orders.[4]
After a philosophic epiphany about his humanity, Logan then completely destroyed the Yashida criminal empire. When Wolverine confronted Shingen a second time, Shingen did not survive, and Mariko revealed she was planning to kill her dishonorable father herself and commit seppuku in recompense had not Logan preempted her. Afterward Mariko Yashida and Wolverine decided to marry, with the X-Men receiving an invitation from the Emperor of Japanfor the event. However, they did not marry; Mariko was at that time being controlled by the villain Mastermind, who was conducting a revenge campaign on the X-Men. She succeeded her father in command of the clan.[5]
Shingen was later resurrected by Phaedra, an agent of the Hand as part of her campaign of revenge against Wolverine, Phaedra having 'stolen' a piece of Wolverine's soul during his brief period under the Hand's control and turned it into a warrior under her command. Although Wolverine killed Phaedra and reclaimed his soul, Shingen apparently survived, although he has not been seen since.[6]

Powers and abilities

Shingen Yashida had no superhuman abilities but was in peak physical condition despite his age and was one of the finest swordsmen and martial artists in all of Japan. Highly intelligent, Shingen had extensive knowledge of human anatomy, pressure points, and also great knowledge of poisons and assassination techniques. He was highly skilled in the management of criminal organizations and very well connected in the international criminal underworld, particularly in areas of drug traffic.